Pre-reading

Emmett is clearly starting to figure out the relationship between written letters and spoken words. I sound things out for him and talk about what sounds different letters make, and he mimics that. He'll ask me what makes a "t" sound, or what sound an "r" makes. He also faux-sounds out words by stuttering a little when he talks sometimes -- He'll say "b-b-ball!" and stuff like that. Granted, sometimes he'll say "b-b-Library!" but at least he's trying.

Today while reading "Are you my mother?" I stopped on a page where the word "mother" appeared three times. I pointed to one of them and told him it was the word mother. Keeping my finger on that word, I asked him to find the other two times that the word "mother" appeared on the page. He did it so easily, I tried again a few pages later with the word "bird." The word "bird" was much tougher for him, though he did point to the word "mother" on that page and name it without prompting. I think the difference may have been that "bird" often appears next to the similar word "baby," or maybe because mother is almost always the longest word on the page. During "Go, Dog, Go!" I tried with the word "hat" and that one was tough, too.

I don't know what it all means, but it seems like early reading skills to me.